Test clips are used to temporarily connect to the leads of IC (integrated circuit) devices. High density circuits generally have a rectangular body and multiple leads extending from two or four sides of the body to a circuit board. Present test clips use rows of individual contacts, each stamped or photo-fabricated to small tolerances. The contacts are placed in individual slots of a plastic housing, and are separated by thin barriers that form the slots.
IC devices are becoming available with greater numbers of leads spaced closer together. IC devices are currently available with fifty leads on each of four sides, having a 0.5 mm (0.02 inch) lead pitch, which is the center-to-center spacing of the leads. It is expected that IC devices will soon be available with lead pitch sizes of 0.4 mm and 0.3 mm. As the pitch size decreases, the size and tolerance of the very thin contacts and of the insulator barrier walls between adjacent contacts, becomes extremely small. The problem of producing reliable test clips for such miniature IC devices is compounded by the fact that existing IC devices as well as recently announced new ones are not well standardized. A connecting device which enabled test clips to be manufactured at moderate cost to reliably engage the leads of IC devices having leads spaced at very small pitch sizes, would be of considerable value in the testing of IC circuit devices.